I was the first one picked up for the canyoning tour. I was warmly greeted by P, who was as pleasant in reality as he was in his email communication, and his lovely wife T. I chattered with excitement as we headed to the next hostel to pick up D, a German on a month long tour of Portugal and Spain, and E, who had a several day stopover in the Azores en route to returning to Israel from the US. The Sao Miguel countryside whizzed by in a haze of vivid green. The tea plantation seemed to stretch on forever.
When we arrived to the canyoning site, we met with the other two participants who were a couple, M and L, from mainland Portugal. I was glad that the group was on the smaller side - a benefit of the off season. A trio of cats milled around the restrooms; two were kittens nesting together for a nap on a garbage bag. The third, which shared the characteristic point coloration of a particular feline internet sensation, purred and wound its way around my ankles. It followed me back to the group and settled in by the couple's rental car to watch us intently.
As we donned our wetsuits, I turned away as I self-consciously wiggled into mine. T, who was very petite, helped me adjust it over my hips where it was getting stuck while I awkwardly mumbled about having "a lot to fit in". She winked at me and laughed, "Don't worry - it'll keep you warmer when we're in the water. I have to wear two wetsuits layered because I get cold." I guess there was some benefit to a bit of extra insulation.
We began our hike and I almost immediately proved the necessity of wearing a helmet by hitting my head on an outcropping of rock twenty meters in. We wound our way through the path and I marvelled at the lush landscape. It was slightly drizzling and the jungle-like vegetation was thick around us. After stopping to examine wild mushrooms (which no one could discern if they were poisonous, psychedelic, or food-safe), we sipped water dripping down in rivulets over the rock face to our left. The right side of the path dropped off on a steep incline; I slid in the mud and my breath caught in my chest as I imagined tumbling down.
Everything around was so green which made sense given the plentiful rain and temperate climate. Anywhere something could grow, it did. P pointed out a plant which was ubiquitous in the landscape around us. "This isn't native to the Azores; it's a type of wild ginger originally from the Himalayas. But it's taken over here and edged out many of the native species. We have no use for it - we don't ea it, it just grows wildly. The invasive species had helped the near extinction of a type of native Azorean blueberry which the company was named after. I felt my hair sticking to the nape of my neck; the drizzle had tapered off but the air was thick and humid. In summer temperatures, I could imagine it would be sweltering and the wetsuits would be oppressively warm. After stopping for a few photos, we splashed through the water to arrive at the first stage.
I watched M rappel down first, followed by E. I had never rock climbed before and I watched them bob down on the ropes with some trepidation. I'm not the most coordinated on flat land let alone trying to allow slack in a rope while gently descending down a rock face. But I felt comfortable with the urging of P and T, and despite slamming into the rock once or twice, I safely descended and really enjoyed it. "You can climb down and jump through the waterfall if you want," T told me, as she readied the lines for the next person. I was the first to go through the waterfall, which was a bit of a surprise to myself given my hesitation. I stood behind the cascading water and steeled myself to jump through. I scanned the area and behind the curtain of falling water and tried to will the images of myself hitting my head and dying of intracranial hemorrhage out of my mind. "You're wearing a helmet. Just jump." I leapt through the waterfall into the water below and the cold water was an exhilarating shock to my system. Sputtering and smiling, I swam away and watched the others follow my trajectory.
We continued downstream and I tried to keep my balance as we were wading over uneven terrain. E was watching my cautious steps. "Try to bend your knees and lower your centre of gravity - it'll help you be more stable." I thanked him and reminded myself of the basic laws of physics. I was walking more by faith by sight as we ranged from being ankle to knee deep in the water. Despite the antislip boots, I found myself nearly slipping on multiple occasions. I slipped on a rock and scraped the skin off my knuckles trying to grab a handhold.
The next obstacle was a waterslide. D went first and I listened carefully to P telling him to stay to the right or else he'd be flung into a rock on the left. After I confirmed D survived unscathed, it was my turn and as I gripped myself tightly, the current carried me down the smooth rock face and plunged me into the water. I felt more relaxed with every passing moment. I was staring at water as we made our way to the next rappel. I noticed a fish swim past my ankle, and when I paused, I could see that there were a half dozen of them darting around my feet. The sun glinted off their scales as they darted to and fro.
E went first on the next jump. Wiry and fearless, he tucked his glasses inside his wetsuit and went over. M, charismatic and funny, followed him down. I hesitated on the edge of the falls, reassured by P's smiling encouragement. I told myself not to think and just do it - I repressed every urge my body had to not jump off and went for it. Again, it was exhilarating and I was happy I faced my fear. M wasn't comfortable leaping off and instead opted to rappel down. As I watched, I remarked to myself that rappelling seemed much more scary to me considering how long it took and how you were continually seeing your distance from the ground.
I was feeling much more confident when we arrived at the next rappel. It was quite a bit higher and I watched M descend gracefully. For some reason, though, my confidence evaporated when it was my turn and I'd clambered over to the starting position. When standing at the top, I panicked. I clung to P's outstretched hand and the rock wall and repeatedly shrieked "I'm going to die, I can't, I can't." P laughed and encouraged me I'd be fine. He gently pushed me - "I know you can do it." As I slowly made my way down, with T stabilizing from below, I relaxed and reasoned that I'd likely survive this as well. As the group trekked on through the water, I slipped and fell backwards hitting my left flank on a rock. I wryly remarked that I was more of a danger to myself on level ground that when rappelling or jumping.
The last obstacle was the highest jump yet. It may not have appeared very high to others, but to someone like myself with a fear of heights, it was tall enough to trigger my concerns that I'd be leaping to my death. I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone and decided to go first. I second guessed this decision as I saw the distance to the water below from my perch. "Careful not to jump too far left," P warned me as he gestured to a rock jutting out from the face. I vividly pictured myself colliding with that on my way down. I jumped, and while the fall seemed like an eternity, in reality it was just a few seconds before I crashed into the water below. I thanked God for helping me get through the entire jaunt with my limbs intact.
I watched the rest of the group jump off, with the exception of M who rappelled down rather than leap. My heart skipped a beat when D veered slightly too much to the right and landed alarmingly close to T; fortunately he didn't land directly on her and avoided catastrophe. We all chatted lightheartedly as we made our way back to the van. T and P helped us remove our wetsuits so we could change. I was grateful for the extra warmth that had provided by my rashguard layer. As I made my way back to the restrooms to change into dry clothes, the beige cat from earlier blinked at me.
We clustered around the back of the van as P and T handed out Azorean biscuits and poured steaming mugs of green tea grown locally at the plantations we'd passed en route. I felt buoyantly light and invigorated after the canyoning session - I was pleased I was able to conquer a fear and have so much fun doing it. I would happily have done it all over again at that moment. I wished that we'd been able to do the full day tour rather than the half day, but that wasn't an option given the time of year. T told me that the island of Flores had beautiful canyoning tours and I mentally calculated when I could feasibly get there in the coming year.
We piled into the van and set off for Ponta Delgada. T and P gave us a myriad of suggestions for activities, restaurants and sights; I lamented that I only had a day and a half left on Sao Miguel. They strongly recommended a restaurant a fifteen minute walk from the city. P praised their salads, and considering the dearth of vegetables in my diet as of late, I figured it was a good place for me to have lunch. The restaurant was on our way back and they were happy to drop me off before taking D and E back to their hostel. I was a bit sad to leave the group, as we'd developed quite the congenial rapport over the course of the day, but we exchanged contact information before I bade them goodbye. They drove off as I headed into the restaurant.
I reflected at my good fortune to meet such a lovely group of people, but unbeknownst to me, my adventure with T and P was far from over that day...to be continued in part 2 :)
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